Res­i­dents want third struc­tural au­dit

Af­ter two con­tra­dict­ing struc­tural au­dit re­ports of a build­ing at Pend­se­na­gar in Dom­bivli (East), the res­i­dents want a third opin­ion.

The three-storey build­ing has two wings, Shiv Shanti and New Shiv Shanti, which has 42 rooms.

Both the au­dits — one re­quested by the owner and the other by res­i­dents — were con­ducted by Kalyan-Dom­bivli Mu­nic­i­pal Corporation (KDMC) last year.

The struc­tural au­dit ini­ti­ated by the owner re­veals that the build­ings are dan­ger­ous and should be de­mol­ished. A month later, the sec­ond au­dit found that the build­ings are not dan­ger­ous and can be re­de­vel­oped.

“We de­cided to con­duct a sec­ond struc­tural au­dit as we were not pleased with the first one. The sec­ond au­dit clearly states that the build­ing can be re­de­vel­oped,” said a res­i­dent of Shiv Shanti Build­ing, who did not wish to be named.

Based on the first struc­tural au­dit, the ward of­fi­cers have served no­tices to res­i­dents 15 days ago ask­ing them to va­cate the rooms as the build­ing shall Shiv Shanti, a three-storey build­ing in Dom­bivli, built an­other wing in 1988.

be de­mol­ished. Last week, the civic of­fi­cials also dis­con­nected the wa­ter sup­ply of both the build­ings.

In July 2015, a re­port of the sec­ond struc­tural au­dit con­ducted by KDMC’s panel of en­gi­neers was sub­mit­ted to res­i­dents.

The res­i­dents claimed that for the last one year the civic body did not de­mol­ish the struc­ture but it has now asked its res­i­dents

to va­cate the build­ing.

“The build­ings would have been re­de­vel­oped in last one year. But the owner is not will­ing to re­de­velop it which is why a false struc­tural au­dit re­port has been pro­duced to the civic body. We want a third party struc­tural au­dit to cross­check this,” added the res­i­dent.

Cor­po­ra­tor Rahul Damle said, “I will ap­peal to the KDMC

com­mis­sioner for a third party au­dit.”

A KDMC sur­vey re­veals that there are 297 di­lap­i­dated and 338 ex­tremely di­lap­i­dated build­ings in the seven wards. “As per the struc­tural au­dit done by the build­ing owner, we have served no­tice to the res­i­dents and have asked them to va­cate the place,” said an of­fi­cer from F ward of­fi­cer of KDMC, re­quest­ing anonymity.